Mark Hughes has distanced himself from Robbie Savage's outspoken attack on Stoke City - and insisted he himself has no problem with the club's ambition.

Hughes and his players go into the first home game of the season against Arsenal today (5.30pm) with criticism from various outside quarters ringing in their ears.

That included Savage, a friend of Hughes, after he claimed the Stoke boss should leave the Potteries because he lacks the resources to take the club any further.

“Robbie isn't here on a day-to-day basis and he has no idea what's going on here," said Hughes.

“I think he's probably just responding to all the other negativity around the place.

“Robbie's a great guy and we know him well as a player, but he was just responding to all the stuff he was hearing and thought: `well, perhaps I need to try to balance it up.' Maybe he did it in the wrong way though.

“Robbie knows about playing well when things are thrown your way. He's been in those situations and he knows how it goes."

Hughes also explained away Marko Arnautovic's claim that he was joining a bigger and more ambitious club when signing for West Ham.

“That was probably a means to an end for Marko and his advisers," he observed.

Robbie Savage... has been pointing a stiff finger at Stoke this past week (Image: Getty)

“It's quite easy to say things like that when you're not in possession of the facts, which players never are. Our ambitions are as strong, with or without Marko.

Hughes is confident Stoke fans will rally behind his players, but doesn't think they need much firing up anyway once they see Arsenal loom into view for today's first home game of the season.

“You don't need too much motivating here, certainly to have a go at Arsenal," Hughes enthused.

“We were disappointed here last season because we didn't perform against them (in a 4-1 loss).

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“It was our last home game and we had come through a really hard season where, if we're honest, we were really disappointed with what we'd achieved and went into the Arsenal game not really at the levels we needed to be to cope with an Arsenal team who were going for the FA Cup final, changed their shape and were on a good run of form.

“They got us at a good time for them and a bad time for us. Now we have a different situation."

But he also acknowledged that some supporters are a little nervous about the new season following a summer of change.

“Criticism has come from outside – and a little bit from within – but that's normal because people get a little bit apprehensive when there's change to the team. Fans will worry about that and what we're capable of."

Reserve striker Julien Ngoy faces up to six weeks on the sidelines after suffering another injury setback.

“Julien Ngoy has unfortunately pulled his thigh and it's quite a nasty one that will be five or six weeks," said Hughes. “Given the explosive nature of his game, we have to be careful."